Archive | October, 2019

Funding Municipal Culvert Replacements – FREE Forum

Many culverts and bridges are aging, undersized and in need of repair or replacement. Replacing them with structures that meet the current design standards can lead to safer, lower maintenance and more storm resilient roadways. However, securing funds to pay the upfront costs for these upgrades is a challenge for many municipalities. This forum will discuss some of the funding programs that can be used to help implement replacements and upgrades of culverts and small bridges.

When: Wednesday, October 30, 2019 (2:00 – 4:00 PM)

Where: Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG)

1st Floor Meeting Room

Olver Transit Center, 12 Olive Street

Greenfield, MA 01301

Please contact Brian at (617) 626‑1541 or brian.kelder@mass.gov to RSVP

Select the link below for more information.

Culvert Funding Flyer

Rivers and Roads Workshops

The goal of the Rivers & Roads Training Program is to advance an understanding of fluvial geomorphology across the transportation sector, to ultimately develop and implement projects that improve the resiliency of the Commonwealth’s transportation network.

Target Audience: Anyone who manages, plans, designs or builds roadway infrastructure around rivers and streams.

The workshops are FREE but require registration. For information on how to register and locations and dates of workshops, please see the below links:

Rivers and Roads Workshop website

Rivers and Roads Workshop Flyer

Opportunity Zone Presentation on October 15

Great things are happening in Downtown Greenfield and Turners Falls. However, vacant storefronts and buildings in need of redevelopment remain. What can be done to create more dynamic and sustainable downtown economies? One tool that can be used is the new federal Opportunity Zone program, which seeks to drive private investment into downtowns in need of revitalization.

Earlier this year LOCUS and Smart Growth America selected the City of Greenfield and the Town of Montague to participate in their Massachusetts Opportunity Zone Academy. The Academy provides one-on-one expert technical assistance to Greenfield and Montague on advancing smart growth best practices and policies to revitalize the designated Opportunity Zones in their communities (i.e. areas of Downtown Greenfield and the Village of Turners Falls). Smart growth best practices and policies encourage sustainable, equitable and walkable development that create healthy communities and expand economic opportunity.

As part of this award, experts from LOCUS and Smart Growth America will host a public presentation about the Opportunity Zones program and how these communities can leverage their designation to attract private investment. The presentation will be held on Tuesday, October 15 at 6:00 pm -7:30 pm, John Zon Community Center, 35 Pleasant Street, Greenfield. Anyone interested in learning more is welcome to attend.

 

River Corridor Toolkit Released

Over the last 10 years, FRCOG has been using the science of Fluvial Geomorphology to develop and pilot cost-effective, sustainable river and watershed assessment, restoration and management techniques in the Franklin County portion of the Deerfield River Watershed.  Historic land clearance and the legacy of channel modification are two of the main stressors still affecting the rivers and streams in this watershed. Continued development and encroachments in the river corridor, along with the more frequent and intense rain events due to climate change, also stress these unstable river systems.

In 2017, FRCOG was awarded a $155,000 s.319 grant from MassDEP to develop a river corridor mapping protocol and a River Corridor Management Toolkit, which includes two innovative tools: a Model River Corridor Protection Overlay Zoning District Bylaw and a draft River Corridor Easement Restriction.

The Toolkit can be used by state agency staff, communities and landowners in the Deerfield River Watershed and across the Commonwealth who are interested in river restoration and protection, climate resilient land use, and the reduction of threats to critical infrastructure caused by increasingly severe and frequent flood events.  More Information:  Kimberly Noake MacPhee at kmacphee@frcog.org or ext. 130.

River Corridor Toolkit_Part_1

River Corridor Toolkit_Part_2

River Corridor Toolkit_Part_3

 

MA Rural Policy Plan Released

The MA Rural Policy Advisory Commission (RPAC) released its Rural Policy Plan for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (PDF file, 30mb). The Plan identifies, highlights and offers policy recommendations related to the unique issues and challenges faced by rural Massachusetts.  The Plan provides a socioeconomic summary of rural Massachusetts and addresses 15 Focus Areas that were identified through listening sessions held across the state in late 2018. The goal of the Plan is to provide a thorough but succinct outline of each Focus Area that identifies the issues and highlights sub-regional differences, describes current related state policies and a best practices from Massachusetts or other parts of the country or the world, and provides prioritized recommendations.  Members of the RPAC and rural Regional Planning Agencies have shared in the effort to engage and solicit input from a large swath of stakeholders throughout Massachusetts through meetings and other efforts, and in sharing in the writing of the Plan.